Sunday night took a wild turn for one Estero family when an unexpected visitor made himself at home in their back porch—a three-legged alligator with a knack for breaking and entering.
Leo Chico and his family were winding down for the night when they heard a strange rattling sound coming from their patio. At first, they thought it might be rain, but what they found was much larger—and scalier.
“I couldn’t even get the words out of my mouth,” Chico said. “I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ And my wife was like, ‘What?’”
Peering out the window, they saw the gator had somehow squeezed its way through the metal fence and was now trapped inside their backyard.
Chico quickly grabbed his phone and started recording as the gator tried, and failed, to wiggle back through the fence.
With no clear exit plan, the reptile began knocking over chairs and a table with its tail.
Realizing their scaly intruder wasn’t leaving on his own, Chico called 911. Moments later, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) was on the way.
"I couldn't even think straight," Chico said. “I was kind of shaking a little bit trying to get through the prompts."
When the gator trapper arrived, he was dressed for the occasion—or maybe just for comfort.
“He just showed up in Crocs, like, ready to go,” Chico said with a laugh. “I just thought it was funny that he was in Crocs. Like, it was a normal day for him.”
Chico said the trapper secured the roughly 7-foot gator and prepared to transport it to a breeding farm. But before the reptile left, Chico himself got an unexpected promotion—from backyard spectator to assistant gator wrangler.
“The officer asked me to help him put the gator in the truck,” Chico said. “I grabbed it by its little chicken leg, and it felt just like a big chicken leg!”
Though the gator is now safely relocated, it left its mark—literally. Scratches on the deck serve as a reminder of the wild encounter, and for Chico’s kids, it was a night they won’t forget.
"It was really thrilling, I think. A little scary, but mostly thrilling," Chico said. "Definitely some memories we will never forget about."